Charcoal Lane

Side by side

We walk along

To the end of Gertrude Street

Then we topple in muster for a quart of wine

Thick or thin

Right or wrong

In the cold or in the heat

We cross over Smith Street to the end of the line

And we laugh and sing

And do anything

To take away the pain

Trying to keep it down as it first went round

In Charcoal Lane

Spinning yarns

And telling jokes

Now the wine is tasting good

As its getting closer and closer to it’s end

Have a sip

And roll some smokes

We’d smoke ‘Tailor mades’ if we could

Oh, we just make do with some city street blend

And we’d all chuck in

And we’d start to grin

When we had enough to do it again

But if things got tight then we’d have to bite

For Charcoal Lane

Up Gertrude Street

We walk once more

With just a few cents short

And we stop at The Builders to see who we could see

And we barter around

Until we score

A flagon of McWilliams port

Enough to take away our misery

And we’d all get drunk

Oh so drunk

And maybe a little insane

And we’d stagger home

All alone

And the next day we’d do it again

Have a reviver in Charcoal Lane

I'm a survivor of Charcoal Lane